“Last summer, our son Patrick Ezell received a generous sponsorship from YES to attend musical theater workshops at California Theater Conservatory. Through this experience he grew significantly in agency, ownership, motivation, confidence, and character.
With both his dad and I running our own summer camp, Patrick had to arrange his own transportation, pack his own lunch and prepare his own monologues and solos for the workshops. He even took the SMART train for the first time with some older participants. He was punctual and prepared and communicated well with us about performances. This agency gave him an opportunity to grow more independent and more confident as a result.
Patrick received individual and small group coaching of his dance, voice and acting skills and was even selected for additional coaching at two studio nights, one monologue and one voice solo (see attached). His voice teacher gave him a goal to master “motivated gestures,” and he did. He practiced stage combat with a professional actor. A beginner at dance, Patrick improved his ballet, tap, and jazz skills and tried swing dancing for the first time. He received tailored coaching on a poem he selected and memorized and plans to perform it in competition this year. As he encouraged others and received feedback from fellow coaches and students, his character grew as well as the CTC community.
Recently Patrick received a supporting role in CTC’s Guys and Dolls: Arvide Abernathy. This is his largest role so far with a solo song.”
~Celeste, Parent of Sponsorship Recipient
“This past summer, because YES sponsored my participation in Theatre Workshops with California Theatre Conservatory, I was able to revisit my central motivation for why I do Theatre, to tell humanising stories with relatable and fascinating characters.
I was granted the opportunity to get closer to understanding my singing, when I worked with Alissa Deeter during the final week.
During these workshops, I grew in my confidence around dance, working with professionals like Elizabeth Casteneda, Sydney Ferrario, Tracy Barlow, and Kate Snyder, in the styles of Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and Swing/Lindy Hop.
YES also enabled me to work with the outstanding director, Rodney Franz, again, who I expected to work with at my High School all of last year, but was cut short because of complications with the school board.
These were such valuable experiences, and now I am in this Fall’s production with California Theatre Conservatory, Guys and Dolls, directed by Rodney Franz. I have a Supporting Lead role, and I will be performing an entire solo song, something I have not gotten a chance to do in an advanced setting yet.
Thank you so much! While writing the reflection, I really got clarity on why I’m doing this!”
~W.Patrick, Sponsored Youth